This service is designed to allow HPFF users to alert the staff about inappropriate reviews.

Review:

MajiKat says:susan. i can't even. what was this? omg its magic, that's what!! i don't know where to begin, only to say that i loved it and i have been anticipating this since you mentioned you were writing a tom/minerva.

and just wow! if i were to quote all the lines that stood out to me, all the phrases that reached out of the screen and slapped me in the face i would fill this whole review with italics!

something has changed in your writing of late. i don't know what exactly, but as i know you are a fan of the classics i will leave it at that allusion. take it as you will but i hope you will take it as a compliment ^_^

(loved the literary reference btw, and wuthering heights is one of my least fav books ever. i have a real love-hate relationship with it)

the characterisation of both tom and minerva was as it should be and their relationship, or semblance of one, was also as it should be - not really cemented in anything. they cannot truly be together in any sense of the word and yet, i can see how they are drawn to one another.

the poeticism and the imagery in this is staggering! the use of light and shadow, the sun and the wonderful metaphor that you play with so skillfully just leaves me breathless and seething cause i am so jealous of your talent right now. this ran like a black and white movie, tinged with red and gold and i don't know if that was intentional but you know i see things in colours, lol.

i love minerva's strength and her knowledge that that strength could be easily broken by him. it makes her powerful, makes her more than him and i love that. tom is pitying, sad and lost, and in that, she can escape him.

gah. i will stop gushing. this is amazing and i adore the ending so much!!

Kate xx

Author's Response: Kate! Why do you always leave such amazing reviews? I never know what to say in response without rambling on and on forever, but I do love receiving your reviews and reading them over and over. ^_^ Thank you so much for taking the time to leave them, as I know you're busy.

It's wonderful that you enjoyed this story. I was so happy to finally get another Tom/Minerva idea - it's been too long a time, and while I was writing this, I realized how much I'd missed these characters and their opposing places in canon. They're just so... interesting - I don't know how else to say it. Endlessly fascinating on their own, together, they're more than the sum of their parts, which is even better. ;)

I'm curious about this change in my style. It probably is because of all the things I'm reading and have read these last few years - everything from the modernists and contemporary Canadian to all sorts of Victorian writings - and I guess that it's all influencing how I think and write. It's not conscious, though, not in the least. It means a lot that you've complimented it, though, more than I could possibly express.

Your vision of the colours in this story is very much how I saw it too - I'm glad that it came through in the text. The whole black-and-white film influence was very present, then there was all of that red, followed by the gold at the end. Those are the only two colours in this world of war. Interestingly, one can tie this to the CoS movie and the way that Tom's flashbacks are all in black-and-white - you can imagine this one-shot looking very much like those scenes did. :D

Thank you SO MUCH for this review. It's nothing short of glorious and I can't squee enough over it. *huggles*